The gamified educational materials emphasize the interactive experience of the subject, its implication and autonomous decision-making in relation to the object of knowledge, information that it does not receive in a homogeneous and passive way, but that builds it through the personalized action of the game in a digitized environment. Gamification in higher education can provide to students better opportunities to develop commitment skills, increasing their motivation and making them more interested in what they are learning. The purpose of this review is to collect information, synthesize and integrate published works on the influence of gamification with the motivation and learning of students. With this, it is intended to establish the current state of knowledge on gamification in education, which will allow a better approach to future lines of research. Representative studies were identified through a systematic search in 4 databases: EBSCO SPORTDISCUS, SCOPUS, ISI and SCHOLAR GOOGLE, extracting data about the study design, participants, variables, instruments and results. We included 22 studies, 19 originals and 3 reviews of the literature. Initial evidence indicates that gamification in higher education motivates students and improves their learning, providing university students with better opportunities to develop commitment skills. The use of PBL (Points, Badges and Leaderboards) improves motivation and is considered as an adequate combination of mechanics in the implementation of any gamification process in higher education. Guidelines are indicated to maintain motivation and promote learning in the students.